Work on installing FieldTurf at Geneva High gets going this week

Work began this week to install a FieldTurf surface at Geneva High School's Burgess Field. As part of the renovation, two track lanes will also be added.

Nicholas & Associates of Mount Prospect is the general contractor and Midwest Track Builders will do the track addition and existing lane resurfacing for the project estimated at about $1 million. Athletic director Jim Kafer said the work should be completed by Aug. 18, one week before the Vikings' football season opener at home against Oswego.

The field's crown was long gone, and after absorbing a heavy rain, the field resembled a mud bowl the last several decades. In Geneva's first state football playoff series in 1975, a home game was shifted to Batavia High School because of the conditions at Burgess.

More than football and track will benefit. Band, lacrosse, boys and girls soccer, lacrosse, even baseball, softball and physical education classes will get good use out of the synthetic field, Kafer said.

Tom Finnberg, president of the Geneva High School All Sports Boosters and head of the offshoot Friends of Burgess Field, noted the group raised about $45,000, an anonymous donor gave $500,000 and the school district paid $500,000 to get the project rolling.

Kafer said no groundbreaking ceremony will be held, but there will be a dedication ceremony handled by the District 304 superintendent's office when the project is completed.